Author and Infanteer Michael Chatfield joins me to talk about ‘Sacremon’, the first book in his ‘Harmony War’ series. Thank you, Michael, for taking the time to chat to me. Please sit down, get comfortable and let’s begin.

How important are character names to you in your books? Is there a special meaning to any of the names?
With most, there’s not really any special meaning. Code names used by Mark and Tyler are a fun little play on their appearances and actions.

I think the only character that has a special connection to their name is Salchar in the Free Fleet.

While he’s the commander of the Free Fleet, he’s Salchar – he’s a leader, and the man who will take anything on to deal with the threats against his people.

In private, he’s James Cook – a dude that’s scared about what his actions will do. Earth always attacks Salchar to demean him. On Asul, they name the lake after his real name. They care about the man, not just the legend.

Salchar is more than a man, he’s a symbol. Yet behind it is James Cook. It’s an interesting cross-over between the two.

Where do your ideas come from?
Good question. My best answer would be, I don’t really know. Some have come from dreams. Others were inspired by other books, some by video games, movies and television. In the end, some character pops into my head. I start to understand their motivations, and what they would do in certain situations. Then I start testing them.

I never have all my ideas nailed down as I start a book – I just have characters in my head, and some kind of situation going on. The situation might change, characters might crop up, and I test my character. I see what happens as they grow. They might do something really unexpected.

Situations and scenes can come from a variety of places. But as for the characters, I honestly don’t know how or where they got into my head.

Do you read reviews of your book(s)? Do you respond to them, good or bad? How do you deal with the bad?
Yes! The first thing and last thing I do in the day (and quite a few times during the day) I check the various sites where people can leave reviews on . I don’t respond to them directly, but I’ll leave with a big smile on my face and a thought in my head, most times.

Bad reviews aren’t necessary bad, they’re showing how I can improve, or what they want to read. ANY reviews are good in my mind, and I know how that sounds cliche. The thing is that art, any art always has room for improvement, otherwise there would just be one book on every subject. Bad reviews can lead me to new ideas, or remind me of what I messed up.

I ask all readers to review. I want to know what they thought of the book, what scenes were the favorite, why? Because I want to make a good book that they enjoy, if only I like it then I messed up somewhere.

Do you have a favourite conference / convention that you like to attend? What is it?
NanoWrimo, also known as National November Writing Month. It was the thing that started my writing, and kicked my ass to not only start a book – but to finish it.

I write in every November, April and July when they hold writing contests. I find it’s great for all writers – whether they’re writing for themselves, others or the market. The community is great fun, and everyone pushes one another to reach their goals.

Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others?
The death of a character is definitely the hardest. I have to write the entire scene in one go, or else I’m going to try and keep them alive.

When someone who I have created, watched grow – and knew better than themselves – passes away, it is one of the most draining scenes to write. In military science fiction, people die a lot. It’s unfortunate, but if they didn’t, then I wouldn’t be doing the work justice. With writing Sacremon, I finished the book and took the night off thinking about the characters that had died. I really liked those characters, and now they were gone.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on The Harmony War Series. It follows Mark Victor and his brother, Tyler. Born and raised in the slums of Earth, they learned how to look out for one another from an early age. The only way to get out of the slums is to die, or become a trooper for Earth’s Military Forces. They didn’t die in the slums, and nothing could be as hard as that, right?

Why should a potential reader buy your book(s)?
The characters, ‘cause I sure as heck ain’t controlling them! I like the stories for the characters. There is a lot of action, and the situations the characters get into are hectic. There is a lot that happens in the book, and it makes sense because I don’t honestly know what’s going to happen until it does. Now this is hard science fiction, as the action is realistic. So are the mechanics I use in my stories. All of the machinery, weapons, space-drives, and distances are based on fact or theories. So this stuff could actually be reality one day – which I find mind boggling, and awesome!

What’s the strangest thing you have ever had to research for your book?
I’ve gone from waste disposal systems, to railguns, to space drives, to bugging my more mathematically-inclined friends to figure out how long it would take to travel between various star-systems. Then, I wrap my head around time-dilation… I’m always looking for new information as I work.

My latest thing is looking at anti-matter theories and playing around with an anti-matter calculator. Edward Muller has a very nice calculator which weighs anti-matter and converts it into the correlating yields if it became unstable. It’s scary as all hell – especially when they’re compared to nuclear bombs and natural disasters.

What’s an interesting fact about your book?
The series I’m currently working on (The Harmony War Series) originally started six years ago. We were supposed to meet Mark at a much later time in his life. It was going to be my debut series, but then I accidentally put my fingers to the keyboard and the Free Fleet series was born. As Free Fleet came to a close, I went back and looked at my project document and good ole Mark asked me, “So we gonna get this thing started or what?” He was sitting there in a lounge chair, Sex on the Beach in hand, cigar in his mouth and catching a tan. Bugger didn’t even look up. I couldn’t very well let him hang out on that lounge chair. So I thought about re-writing his story later in life, and dismissed the idea. I wanted to see how Mark got to that point, and I thought people would like to see too. So Sacremon was born. Also, the star systems used in the Harmony War Series are all real, and they’re possibly habitable. Maybe one day, someone will visit system Lacaille 8760 and if they were to name it Sacremon… well that would be pretty cool!

When you’re writing, do you listen to music or do you need silence?
Music – a lot of it. The two things I never close are YouTube, and my emails. If by some chance the music and the scene match up, magic happens. There’s nothing quite like having an action scene going on, and there’s a powerful orchestra going on in the background.

What do you find most challenging about writing?
Starting those first few words, sentence or paragraph is always the hardest. If it’s the sequel of another book, it’s even harder. It’s like I’ve had a really good meal, and the next day all I want is to go back to that really good meal. But instead, I’m stuck with a sandwich. Though once I get writing, well, there’s nothing quite like it. The characters stretch themselves out, crack their knuckles, and cross their arms – as if they’re asking me what the hell I’m going to put them through now. After that first day I don’t feel like sitting back, drinking my coffee, and looking at the page with pride. I’m already thinking of the next scene, what’s going on with both sides, and what my characters might do. I think that’s the most exciting thing – when you sit back from the page, big ole grin on your face, and look to your characters. They’re smiling as well – as if asking what the hell took me so long to get over that first book, and get on with the second one already. They need a new adventure dammit!

Where can readers go to discover more about you and your books?
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads